A Meeting of Great Minds
by The Paradigm Shift
Summary: A Magical Detective Yue story! Instead of working alone, however, our heroine teams up with the NYPD 12th Precinct Homicide Detectives to solve a puzzling murder involving magic, crime, and politics, all the while trying to hide the existence of mages from the police. Unfortunately, Castle finds out much sooner than Yue had hoped. Hilarity Ensues. T for language, no pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy. The second chapter will be much more comprehensible. This one is meant to be slightly confusing. Hopefully it does not go too far in that respect. **

* * *

The world famous novelist sluggishly lolled his head around, and attempted to open his eyes. He tried to remember what exactly he was doing before, and reasoned he probably passed out after drinking in a pub, judging by the headache currently wracking his brain.

That would have been a great theory, until he realized he was bound with a thick rope to a wooden chair, and was surrounded by darkness. The floor began to tilt.

Richard Castle's addled mind suddenly gained a sense of urgency. Learning that you had been kidnapped tends to wake you up pretty quickly. Castle struggled furiously against the ropes, but to no avail. That's when he started yelling.

"Beckett? Esposito? Ryan?! Is anyone there?"

He shouted their names, asked questions, screamed for help, for what seemed like an eternity, until something dull struck him in the head. It didn't knock him out, but sure did hurt like hell. Castle tried to grab his head in pain, but his hands were tied up, so he settled for a feeble groan instead. A voice rang out.

"Shut up for a minute, will you? You might actually manage to give me a bigger headache."

Bewildered, Castle turned his head as far left as possible, and out of the corner of his eye, caught sight of another rope and chair backed up behind his, complete with a young Japanese woman with long, dark purple hair, wearing a disheveled white dress shirt and black pants. Apparently he had been so loud that the Japanese woman had flung her head backwards and hit his, just to get him to stop screaming like an idiot.

"I really hope this is one of my more exotic dreams. All we need now is some glitter," Castle quipped.

"No matter how much wit you throw into the air, it won't help us get out of this situation."

"It's a coping mechanism. You have unreasonable violence, and I have one-liners."

"That glitter joke was two lines."

"It might have been one line if I hadn't lost so many brain cells to an unwarranted attack to the head."

After a few moments of silence, Castle started to remember how he had ended up in this frankly ridiculous situation.

* * *

**A/N: This story will feature Ayase Yue from the second to last chapter, and I will try my best to remain as close to canon as possible, especially concerning power levels and abilities. I have assumed for now that the entire Ala Alba keeps their artifacts. **

**I took a large bit of inspiration for this from Dragontrapper's story which runs along a similar premise. I reference it a few times, but I don't spoil anything, so do not worry. I highly recommend you read his story. Mine will start similarly, but will soon deviate from his style. Thank you for reading and expect a new chapter soon. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is where the story chronologically starts. The first chapter is in the future. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Some days earlier_

The Ministra Negi who helped save Mundus Magicus from utter annihilation and was a core member of the Ala Alba, the only group in both worlds to come close to the Ala Rubra's original power, was currently in a New York City apartment, sprawled over a couch with a beer in one hand and a book in the other.

Yue Ayase was currently unemployed.

She was making a living out of odd jobs, a night lecture on Kafka's symbolism here, hunting down a rogue mage there, the sort of things one wouldn't expect from an Ariadne graduate at the top of her class.

Of course those qualifications didn't even exist in good old Mundus Vetus, so most of her work was either through a philosophy degree or through the underground mage societies.

Anyhow, Yue had been eating nothing but microwaveable dinners for the past month or so, and she decided enough was enough. Before her chronic laziness could strike again, she got up, put on her light brown overcoat, stashed an emergency wand and vials of potion just in case, and headed out the door, in search of food. She considered taking her staff, but figured she wouldn't be out for more than an hour anyway.

* * *

She sat down alone in a window booth at a family diner and silently ate her food, staring out at the nighttime street outside. Her mind wandered, haphazardly dredging up memories from middle school, her time in the magic world, that time Chisame managed to get tied to a rabid goat, and the various struggles and fights she's been in over the years following.

A man bolted out of a dark alleyway across the street. Yue, who barely caught him in her peripheral vision, turned lazily to see what was going on. Then the man froze: sheer terror was plastered all over his face. The man began to slide backwards, and flew back into the alleyway.

The former magic detective simply stared, still unable to process what was happening, at the alley across the street, until she heard a scream pierce through the night.

_Well, shit, that's not good,_ Yue thought to herself.

The whole scene took no longer than five seconds, but that was more than enough. She bolted out of the restaurant, ignoring the people inside who were beginning to gawk and stare across the street. By the time she got there, however, all that remained was a mangled body in a pool of blood at the center of a small circular crater in the ground. Yue noticed that the crater was a _perfect_ circle, exactly the size of the body. The man on the ground was stout, in his late 40s, and had curly gray hair and stubble, but thick black eyebrows over inset eyes. A crowd began to amass, and soon Yue could hear sirens blaring in the distance. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**A/N: Bonus points if you can figure out from just this information how the victim was killed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This part is like pulling off a bandage. I had to write it quickly and get it over with. If you don't like this chapter, don't worry, it gets much better, at least in my humble opinion. **

* * *

"What do you mean, 'he flew backwards into the alley'?"

Detective Kate Beckett of the 12th precinct was not having a good night. She had just gotten into bed when she got the call that a homicide had occurred. On reflex, she called the novelist, Richard Castle, told him the details, and trudged out of her apartment building, only to have the prime witness claim that a Sith Lord had somehow killed their victim.

"I don't know how, but that's what happened," Yue reluctantly lied to Beckett. In truth, Yue knew gravity magic when she saw it, but she couldn't just tell the police that a mage had just murdered someone. After the rather confusing incident with Chao Lingshen, she had decided to keep the status quo until she can think of a solution to the moral dilemma Chao had presented.

"In any case, here's my card if you remember something relevant. Stay in town, Miss…"

"Ayase. Yue Ayase. Former freelance detective, I might add."

That's when Castle decided to jump into the conversation.

"Woah, that was a great line. Cool and natural at the same time. Could you repeat it for me?" Castle said as he took out his notebook and pen.

Beckett sighed and turned away, hoping Lanie had some good news for her.

* * *

"Bad news. It looks like our vic got crushed by something really heavy. _Really_ heavy. Like wrecking ball heavy. Problem is, I have no idea how something like that could fit into this narrow alleyway, let alone without being seen," Lanie said confusedly. "Bruising suggests there was a struggle, but it didn't last very long."

As Lanie returned to examining the body, Beckett fell silent, and began to think. _How the hell did they pull this off? There have been strange murder weapons, but this…_

Esposito, however, cut her thoughts off. "Yo Beckett, Ryan's canvassing the area with some uniforms, but honestly I doubt anything's going to turn up. Man, this is one weird case." He looked in Yue's and Castle's direction, as they began to argue about the merits of fiction versus philosophical writing. "Is that who found the body?"

"Yeah. She says she's a private detective who works freelance."

"OK, and why is the captain pulling up to the curb?"

"Wait, what?"

Beckett whips around and is shocked to see none other than Captain Roy Montgomery climb out of his sedan and walk right over to the victim.

_What is with this sequence of events? Something's going down here…_

He looked down and shook his head and muttered "I didn't believe it when I heard, but it looks like someone finally got to that bastard…"

Beckett, looking more and more surprised by the minute, asked "Excuse me sir, but did you know our vic? And what are you doing here anyway?"

"Know him?" The veteran captain snorted, choosing to ignore the second question. "Every cop ten years ago knew this guy. Name's Fredric Gustav. This slippery sonuvabitch was famous back in the day for doing anything illegal so long as he got paid. Didn't really matter to him what it was. He's got a laundry list of crimes, including arson and armed robbery. He could have taken down half the criminals in the city with him. Not really surprised someone finally got to him."

The captain finally noticed Yue and Castle, who had stopped arguing and were staring at Montgomery with looks of surprise.

Montgomery raised an eyebrow. "Purple hair, lazy demeanor, and general apathy…Yue Ayase? That Yue Ayase? I heard about your work in the Japanese weapons smuggling case, but what the heck are you doing here?"

Yue blinked. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met…" _Am I really that famous?_

Montgomery extended his hand. "Whoops, sorry about that. Roy Montgomery, Captain of the 12th Precinct, NYPD. And if I'm not mistaken, you specialize in inexplicable and strange cases, right?"

Yue sweatdropped. _I guess he means cases involving mages._ "Yeah, that sounds about right. What about it?"

"Well I hate to admit it, but this looks pretty damn inexplicable to me. A man who is crushed by something that seems not to exist. Nobody heard or saw _anything_, now that's fishy." Montgomery folded his arms and sighed. "I hate to say it, but we could really use your expertise on this one."

Yue put her hands up defensively and shook her head. "Oh, I don't know about that. I'm actually rather busy, and I really should be getting home–,"

"Twenty-five dollars an hour. Independent rate."

If Yue was drinking something (probably eel juice), she would have done a spit take.

"W-What?" _That's a hell of a lot of money…_

Castle was not as excited. "Wait, why the hell don't I get paid this? I've solved a bunch of cases! Hard ones too!"

"Seriously? You drove here in a Murcielago, and you want me to pay you?"

"…Point taken."

Yue, however, was not listening. _My funds _are_ beginning to dry up, and I don't want the discovery of magic by some cops on my conscience… It's also against all of my better judgment…_

The captain's voice snapped her out of her reverie. "So, Ayase, will you do it? We're currently short staffed, so it would be a big help to the NYPD."

_So I'll just solve this case, take my money, and be done with it? Not to mention I would have to direct the investigation away from magic anyway, so I might as well get paid to do it…_

"All right, I'll take your case." Yue whipped a vial out of her overcoat, and began to chug the purple liquid inside. "So, where do we start?"

Beckett had been silent for this whole time, but decisions were being made entirely without her. That wouldn't do. "Well, right now, we'll leave the scene to the CSU unit, and come back in the morning. Sounds good?"

Yue nodded morosely, slightly embarrassed by her show of enthusiasm. As the CSU unit began their sweep of the crime scene, people started to sleepily shuffle away and drive off into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I like this chapter. Not much else to say, but thank you again for reading this far. Reviews are incredibly helpful. **

* * *

Yue took one look at a street sign, and groaned.

In her zombie-like search for food, she had managed to walk a considerable distance from her flat. It was pitch black outside, there were no taxis, and the buses were long gone.

"You need a lift?"

Somehow the novelist had made a courteous question sound like a command. Yue turned. Castle was sitting in his sleek, black sports car, looking at her expectantly. "I don't know how long you've been in New York, but you ought to know it's not safe to walk this late at night."

Yue internally smirked. _For me, or for whoever is dumb enough to mug me?_

Ignoring her better judgment for the second time that night, she climbed into the car, and Castle sped off without bothering asking where she lived.

* * *

After a couple of wrong turns and close calls, they managed to arrive at the dingy looking apartment building some time later.

Yue got out of the car. Out of habit, she made an awkward, short bow. "Thank you, Mr. Castle."

"It's not a problem. By the way, just call me Castle. Mr. Castle makes me sound like a feudal baron who oppresses peasants for fun."

"All right then, thanks Castle."

Yue turned to walk into the building, mentally groaning about spending yet another night in her filthy apartment.

As karma would have it, that was when her flat exploded in a great fireball. Yue jerked her head up and saw her flat in flames, fire and smoke billowing out of the balcony. She knew with an all too sickening precision what this was.

_Great, more mages. Decent ones, by the looks of it. If only I had brought my staff...then again, that explosion just now probably destroyed it…_

She was about to draw her emergency practice wand, when she realized something. Yue looked backwards and saw Castle's shocked face staring upwards, glowing from the firelight.

Yue fished around her overcoat and tossed a vial of blue colored liquid to him. "Get out of the car and stand on the other side of the street. Do not call 911 and do not move an _inch_ from that spot across the road until I come to get you. If you feel like you're in any sort of danger, smash the vial at your feet and call for me. Understood? Splendid."

Before Castle could gather the wits to ask what in Hemingway's name was going on, Yue disappeared into the building.

* * *

As Yue clambered up the stairs in her building, hoping to apprehend the mages, she couldn't help but grin to herself. She _did_ graduate from Ariadne with a giant sword to prove it. Adrenaline rushed through her system.

_Finally, something interesting._

She arrived at her flat and put her ear up to the door, and listened. Two voices. One creepy sounding, the other raspy and grating. They were whispering too softly to understand.

Suddenly, as if he knew Yue was listening, the raspy one said out loud "Jump out of the balcony and take good care of our friend on the street."

Yue cursed under her breath. She had been too late to hear anything of value. She took a deep breath, stepped back, and kicked down the door.

_So much for subtlety._

Her apartment was in flames, and there were two figures cloaked in black in the center of the room.

"Go! Now!" the raspy one ordered the creepy one to jump out the balcony.

"_Foa_ _Zo Cratia Socratia! Fulguratio Albicans!"_ A massive bolt of electricity arced towards the raspy voiced man.

_"Deflexio!"_ The attack bounced off his shield, but was powerful enough to send him staggering.

_Now's my chance! "Flans salatio pulverea!"_ The powerful gust of wind snuffed out all of the flames and sent the attacker flying into the wall. The cloaked figure hit the wall with a sickening thud and fell over. He struggled to get back up, but Yue ended that attempt with a roundhouse to the face.

_Nicely done, Yue._

Once on the floor, however, the attacker whipped out a glowing orb before Yue could react, and he disappeared with a smirk. The fight was over as quickly as it had started.

Yue put her hands on her hips and sighed. _Damn. I hope they don't make me pay for these damages…_

Her eyes widened as she remembered something. Something very important. "Castle!"

* * *

Richard Castle has been in strange situations before. However, he didn't imagine himself standing on a street corner with a sketchy looking vial in the middle of the night, watching a building fire somehow put itself out with a gust of wind.

Stranger still, there were flashes of light coming from the flat, but he couldn't hear any gunshots. He did hear thunder, but that only confused him more.

So when a black clad figure jumped out of the window and growled at him, he just stood where he was and stared.

_Oh great, who the heck is it this—is that a fireball in his hand?!_

Castle instinctively dived for the ground as fire streamed above his head and singed his carefully combed hair.

_What the hell? What's with this goddamn human flamethrower?_

As his attacker prepared another fireball, Castle didn't bother to wait around for it.

Normally the action hero would get up and knock out his opponent before the attack.

Castle decided to book it as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

The black clad man was still faster, and was soon in range for another attack. Castle barely skidded into a back alley, as the fire burned the back of his suit jacket. He had dodged the second attack, but ran right into a dead end. A ten foot high cinderblock wall.

Castle's thoughts became frantic._Who the hell just puts these there? This is ridiculous! Why is this even here!?_

"Time to burn!" Out came a sadistic and terrifying voice, as if from the rivers of hell itself. Castle turned around to see the figure standing in the front of the alley.

The fire flew at Castle. He threw down the vial. The fire came closer, and for a horrible moment, the vial did absolutely nothing. Castle covered his face and prepared for the worst.

The fire bent around him, and a blue shimmering hemisphere stood between Castle and thousand degree flames.

_A shield? From the vial? What the hell? Is this some kind of advanced technology? Government Black Ops? I bet Ayase's a CIA agent. Maybe DARPA. Or a ghost organization, one whose name barely exists._

Starting to feel confident, Castle decided to roll with it. His situation could be worse. He could have woken up next to a Bengal Tiger. He shouted in his most Shakespearean voice "HA! My shield won't break to your flames. Surrender now and I might find it in myself to spare you."

His words were short lived though, as the attacker simply grinned as the shield began to crack.

_Oh shit._

All grace gone, Castle picked up a nearby brick and hatched a brilliant plan: When the shield breaks, throw it as hard as possible and hope for the best.

A voice pierced through the night. "Castle! Hit the dirt! Now!"

Castle decided to take the advice from the distant voice. Unfortunately, the robed attacker didn't, and simply turned around instead. He didn't like what he saw.

Behind him was a very angry, very powerful mage. Yue Ayase's face appeared tranquil, but there was an incredible fury behind it. Her normally lackluster eyes burned with predatory rage.

"You have the power to help people, do some good in this crappy world, and here you are, trying to kill a defenseless man with a pitifully weak fire spell. You don't deserve anyone's mercy, let alone mine. _Foa_ _Zo Cratia Socratia,Emittam! Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens!"_ Yue calmly extended her wand, and a ball of lightning and wind formed at the tip. The ball then exploded forwards, towards the robed figure, who was beginning to regret this job. The hapless attacker flew straight through Castle's shield, the cinderblock wall, and was flung out the other end of the alley, as a blinding beam of light blew him away in one shot.

For a few moments he lay, twitching as stray electricity arced across his otherwise motionless body. After a moment though, he disappeared the same way the other attacker had. Yue clicked her tongue.

_Tch, he must have had the same crystal, except his was somehow remotely activated._

The dust began to settle in the small back alley. Castle got up and saw Yue standing there, crescent moon wand outstretched. She was panting heavily and had sweat dripping from her forehead.

There was only one thing Castle had to say.

"That. Was. AWESOME."


	5. Chapter 5

Castle drew in a deep breath, and asked a question that could change his life forever.

"Will you teach me magic?"

"No." Yue immediately answered.

Castle pouted, but a middle aged man's pouting face can only make things worse.

"Don't look at me like that. It somehow feels wrong."

Yue was forced to explain to Castle that yes, indeed, mages and magic did exist, and no, they do not have flying camels. She had attempted to pass it off as CGI, but that failed miserably. How did that excuse ever work to begin with? As another barrage of questions came from Castle, Yue began to wonder how Negi had put up with this without erasing everyone's memory and being done with it, let alone take the time to teach them magic.

Yue considered wiping his memory clean, but she had lost her memory before. She wouldn't wish that pain and confusion on her worst enemy. Then again, she had some pretty crappy enemies…

Once Castle had calmed down, Yue finally realized a problem.

_Wait, where the heck am I going to stay? I can't even afford a cheap motel on my current budget…Damn, I really needed that job with the ISSDA…_

Castle, as if he read her mind, said "I have plenty of extra space in my loft, by the way. You can stay with me for now."

"W-W-What?!" A light blush rose to Yue's face. Beneath that exterior, she was still a girl. _That's too sudden!_

Surprisingly, Castle beat her to the punch. "Here's what you're about to say: I cannot put you and anyone else in danger with this magic business. From what I can gather, mages are supposed to be secretive, right?"

Yue grimaced. _Somehow that never really works out…_

"My point is that you have nowhere to stay, and I would guess that somehow there were spies listening in at the murder scene, not to mention those two bungling idiots who managed to get away. They wanted to scare you away from this investigation, but that clearly failed. However, those two idiots do know our faces. Now they and their buddies are going to hunt us both down, but they can't take any action in public. Then it's safe to say that they wouldn't even consider attacking at my loft, because I am in the public eye. You have the choice of staying in a police station and attempting to explain your predicament to them, or crashing at my place."

Yue was speechless. She tried to argue, but the words died in her mouth. Her jaw hung open. _I thought he was an idiot! How the hell did he analyze the situation that quickly? His logic isn't perfect, but it's close to impossible to deny! Just who is this Richard Castle? He's clearly far smarter than he looks. No wonder the cops let him tag along. I can't let my guard down like that anymore. Paired with his huge bank account, he could make for a seriously dangerous opponent…or a useful ally._

Castle looked at her sternly. "I'll take your dumbfounded silence as a yes…Wait…Why are you so surprised? Oh great, you thought I was some rich airhead didn't you! That's so typical. How can you judge people like that? I guess it turns out that all this talk about double standards is actually true. It's males who are being oppressed, not females. Oh, I get it know! It's because you think I'm ruggedly handsome isn't—"

A fist smashed into Castle's face with a speed normally associated with fighter jets. A microsecond later, Castle flew off into the street.

Yue stood on the other end of that fist, arm outstretched, fist clenched. Veins popped from her forehead. "You are REALLY starting to piss me off."

"Is that how you treat someone who's going to save you from being hunted down in the streets like a dog?! What the hell man!" Castle shouted from the ground a dozen feet away.

Sirens blared in the background. Someone had called 911, and the last thing Yue wanted right after a magical battle was attention.

She sighed. "Let's just get out of here for now. I really don't need people looking into this."

* * *

A black sports car raced through the dark, empty streets.

Castle turned the rear-view mirror to look at his face, which was still red on the side. "Oh man, Steve is going to make so much fun of me…"

"Steve?" asked Yue.

"Stephen King. I play poker with him from time to time."

"Oh." Yue decided not to inquire into that one. Castle truly was a strange figure. "By the way, I'm really sorry about punching you. I've just had a really long night."

Castle grinned. "Don't worry about it, I've taken worse. Probably. I'll just tell Alexis that I fought off a Russian hit man. Russian hit men truly are the greatest plot device. Instant suspense and they can be hired by anyone. Just add water."

Yue sunk into her seat guiltily. She wanted to avoid using any more magic tonight after that flashy display, but it couldn't really hurt…

"And we're here! Home, sweet home." Castle pulled up to a large, expensive looking residential building. They walked in, and Castle called down the elevator. Once inside, Yue pointed her wand at Castle's face. Castle jumped back with a look of shock.

"WOAH! Please don't turn me into a frog. Or, you know, kill or maim me in any other way."

"_Tui Gratia Jovis Gratia Sit Cura_."

A small light appeared on the end of her wand, and the redness on Castle's face disappeared.

"There. That ought to do it." Yue said with a satisfied face.

"Thanks, my face doesn't feel like it got hit by a truck now…was that a healing spell?" Castle asked, his curiosity piqued.

_Guess it's way too late to hide information now anyway._ "Yeah, but it's only good for small wounds."

"Then what was in the vial I smashed on the ground?"

"Oh, that was my own personal brand of magic potion. You can think of it as a magic grenade. I can store a spell in a liquid, and when that flask is broken, the spell activates. Fairly simple really. That one back there was a _Deflexio_ spell, an all purpose shield."

"How long do they take to make?"

"Eh, each one takes about an hour or two. I've got a couple in my coat, but if we're going to have more fights like those, then I'm going to need to make a fresh batch. Preferably some heavy artillery. "

"I see," Castle said as the elevator door opened. "Magic grenades, huh… Sounds like there are lots of kinds of magic weapons to me. That weapons smuggling case the captain talked about, those wouldn't have happened to be magical weapons?"

"Yep. That really was an interesting case. Not totally unlike this one so far." Yue's expression suddenly shifted. "By the way, if you decide to let loose the existence of mages, I will be turned into an ermine, but _I will turn you into a carbon stain before that happens._ Are we clear?"

Castle shuddered at the thought of being on the receiving end of Yue's anger. _I guess I should hold off on telling Ryan about this…_ "Understood. Your secret has never been safer."

They approached the door to Castle's multi-floor apartment. As Castle opened the door, he said what he considered to be the best one-liner ever created. How hadn't he ever made this pun before?

"Welcome, milady, to my castle."

Yue swore she almost got a concussion from the following facepalm.

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are more helpful than you can possible imagine. Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the long gap, I was very busy for the past few weeks. Chapter 7 should be up soon. **

* * *

_The following morning, in Castle's castle._

Alexis Castle lived a relatively normal life. Living with her dad, Richard Castle, of course, meant some strange things were bound to happen from time to time, but things usually didn't surprise her.

That is, until this morning.

She trudged down the stairs, not particularly eager to go to school, walked through the living room, noted that someone was sleeping on the couch, and kept walking.

A moment later, she stopped. _Wait, who is sleeping on our couch? Oh god, I hope it's not one of those creepy squatters_. Without looking back, she quietly tiptoed away, and grabbed her aluminum baseball bat. She came back to the living room couch, and cautiously prodded the squatter's leg with the bat.

"Hehehehe…" the intruder giggled. "Negi-sensei, I didn't know you were like that…Oh, Haruna, you want to join too…" she giggled again, and a cherry red blush rose to her cheeks. The intruder clutched the pillow in her hands tightly and grinned widely.

Alexis, thoroughly and fully creeped out by now, stepped back, and did the one thing she could think of.

"DAD! DAD!"

The squatter jolted awake. "Bweh?! What? Who are you? What's going on?"

Unfortunately, the squatter instinctively shouted those questions in rather garbled Japanese.

"What?! You don't even speak English?!"

The intruder shook her head vigorously, and asked again in English.

"Who are you? What's going on?"

"That's my line! Why are you in our house? I'm calling 911!" Alexis ran to the nearest phone.

"Wait! There is an explanation! Don't call the police!"

Castle groggily ran down the staircase in his blue silk night robe. "Alexis?! What's going on?"

"Dad, someone broke into our house and fell asleep!"

"I didn't break into anywhere!" Yue, the supposed intruder, shouted.

The gears in Castle's brain began to slowly chug. He groaned, and put his hands on his face. "Alexis, don't call the cops, this is a friend of mine…it is _way_ too early for this…"

* * *

A few minutes later, everyone had calmed down. Castle introduced Yue and Alexis to each other.

"Ayase, this is my daughter, Alexis. Alexis, this is Yue Ayase, a private detective who's consulting on our case. She'll be here for a few days."

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Ayase. Sorry for, you know, flipping out earlier."

"The pleasure is all mine, Alexis. You can just call me Yue. And don't worry about that, you had the correct reaction to seeing a stranger sleeping in your house. I would have been worried if you _didn't_ flip out."

Alexis smiled. She looked at her watch, and her eyes widened. "Crap, I'm going to be late. Bye Dad!" She shouted as she dashed out the door.

Yue took a seat on a bar stool and rested her head on the granite countertop. She stared up at Castle, a morose expression on her face. "You've got a lovely daughter there."

"Oh yeah, the best daughter anyone could have ever asked for."

Yue looked up at Castle, her face grim. "Then promise me one thing. Do not, under any circumstances, drag her into magic. This may seem like a fantasy world to you, but every fairy tale has evil characters."

Castle turned around and looked at her. He saw the slightest twinge of pain in her eyes. He stared for a moment, and the eyes filled with suffering from time long past. "Alright. I promise," he said, as he handed her a mug of coffee.

"Thank you."

Castle turned around, and picked up various pans out of the cabinet. He smirked at Yue, and began to juggle the pans. He started slowly, but soon enough he had four pans flipping and flying through the air. He motioned with his head to the eggs, which Yue, catching on, tossed into his hands. Soon he became a flurry of black iron and white eggs, as his hands seemed to act on their own.

As if by way of explanation, Castle said "I spent a few months in the circus. For research of course."

"Well that explains a lot."

Castle frowned as he continued to juggle. "I walked right into that one didn't I? I am really getting rusty."

Yue nodded, as a grin crept onto her face.

"Alright, how do you like your eggs?" Castle demanded.

"Sunny-side up, thank you very much."

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7

_NYPD, 12__th__ Precinct office_

"Castle, you smell like eggs. What the hell happened? And why did you arrive with Ayase here?"

Beckett had been at the precinct filling out paperwork since early morning and was rapidly becoming frustrated with this case. Gustav seemed to be connected with every criminal element in the city in one way or another. When someone is connected to everybody, it's the same as being connected to nobody: there are no leads as to who could have done it. The only clue she had right now was the manner of death, which appeared to be really showy. Someone went deliberately out of the way to _literally_ crush someone else. It was clearly to send a message, but what, and to whom…

Her train of thought was interrupted by the strange smell. Apparently Castle was not as good at juggling as he had thought.

"Ugh! I showered, put on cologne, and showered again. Why the heck won't this smell go away? It's like a clingy girlfriend. Makes me look bad and never lets go." Castle ignored Beckett's questions.

Yue answered instead. "Well, to be frank, my flat was attacked right after we left the crime scene. The place was almost destroyed. I managed to punch the lights out of our attackers, but they did get away from me. The worst part, by far, was having to use the shower _after_ Castle. I'm even borrowing Alexis' clothes."

Beckett frowned, and she raised an eyebrow. "Your flat was attacked to the point it was almost destroyed, and you didn't call or bother to wait for the authorities to arrive?"

"Authorities may be fast to respond, but enemy reinforcements are faster. There is no way I am going to stick around a place that's been already compromised only to get attacked and put other peoples' lives at risk."

_Enemy reinforcements? That's an odd choice of words. _"So you stayed with Castle? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Castle is a public figure. They won't attack in public view."

Beckett folded her arms and sighed. "Look, I want to trust you and work together with you on this, but you've got to follow some rules, which means keeping me in the loop. You're still a civilian, and I can't let you get hurt."

Yue nodded. "All right then. But in turn I'll need to go places you can't follow, because some of my contacts don't…take so kindly to cops."

"So long as I'm informed, you do what you need to do."

"Okay then, what do we know about this Gustav guy?" Yue and Beckett walked to the whiteboard, currently empty except for a grainy mug shot of Gustav.

"He's affiliated with numerous criminal elements in the city, but ultimately he was a very shadowy figure. We don't know much at all about him, and his database entry is sparse."

"So we know close to nothing?"

"For now, yes."

"I think I can help with that." Kevin Ryan walked towards them with a folder of papers in hand. "I talked to my buddy in Organized Crime. It seems that his ties were mostly with big time crime syndicates, rather than gangs and small fries. Even they're unsure which one his allegiance was to. He seemed to serve as a liaison between organizations, a truly neutral person that both sides could act through. He performed exchanges, oversaw meetings to make sure no violence erupted, and couriered messages to bosses. Pretty smart idea, if you think about it."

"I wouldn't be so sure. He did get killed for it," Castle rebutted. "But if someone killed him, presumably a member of these crime syndicates, doesn't that mean that they've cut communications? As if they are about to go to war?"

"So we're dealing with a full on crime war? We can get two birds with one stone then. Get the killer and the major crime bosses with him."Beckett turned to Esposito, who was sitting a little further away. "Contact Organized Crime. Get all the files related to our vic and we'll start sifting through them to see any connections. I'll go through his financials, if he even has any. Ryan, see if you can't get some word on the street if anything is going down."

"On it," Ryan and Esposito chorused.

"Detective Beckett. I'm going to see some of my aforementioned…contacts. Gather any information I can." Yue's face was stern. _If a powerful gravity mage is somehow involved in a turf war, then this can only be _really_ bad news. I need to meet with the local mage association pronto. Ugh, that's going to suck._

"All right, I'll see if someone can accompany you."

"Uh, about that…like I just said, they won't talk if they see cops," Yue lied. They would talk, and then wipe everyone's memory. Which is never fun for anyone.

"You can't go alone…"

"I'll take Castle. I have plenty of combat training, hostage training, negotiation experience, and let's face it, Castle probably has enough guns should things go wrong. He's not a cop, but you trust him, right?"

"…marginally."

"Hey! I heard that! I'm right here you know! And I don't have any guns! Well aside from the two on my arms…" Castle flexed his muscles.

Yue sweatdropped. _His narcissism is hitting a new high. Not to mention he actually has a lot of real guns…_

Beckett stared for a moment. "All right, but if there is ANY trouble, you will get out of there as quickly as possible. I don't need any heroics. Ugh, I have a feeling I might regret this. This better be worth it."

_Regret is starting to become a common theme here…why are we all regretting everything?_ Yue deadpanned.

"Let's hope it is. Castle, try not to get in the way."

Castle was frothing at the mouth in sheer rage by the end of the conversation.

* * *

And thus Yue and Castle ended up back in the sports car as quickly as they had gotten out.

They drove in an uncomfortable silence for a while, until Castle decided to break the ice. "So Ayase, what's your story? How'd you become a detective? You're clearly smart enough for a higher pay grade."

"Well, I have been trying to get a job with the ISSDA, you know, the new international agency, but that's been taking some time. It started out with some consulting here and there for mages, and it quickly became a way to make money. My magical credentials are fairly useless in a lot of places, so I'm pretty much stuck with a degree in Philosophy."

Castle nodded, mentally noting her story. She'd make a great character. _And the ISSDA is run by mages. That's freaky. Space wizards. Now it's awesome._

"So are you the culmination of generations upon generations of mages, extending back to Merlin?"

"Nope. English teacher taught me and my friends magic in middle school and I never looked back after that."

Castle glanced at her quizzically. _Well, I didn't see that one coming…_

Yue sensed his surprise. "Don't ask; it's a really long story. All you really need to know is that my traipsing around as a grade school kid made me rather well known in mage societies. The local headquarters of which is at this next right."

Castle steered the car into a sketchy looking parking garage. He drove up the floors, and in hindsight, probably should have asked Yue why the HQ was located in a parking garage. They parked in an empty space next to an expensive looking motorcycle and Castle turned the car off. To his surprise, however, Yue didn't get out of the car, but instead turned to him, wand drawn.

"Would you _please_ stop pointing that thing at me? What is this, the third time now? Seriously, whose side are you on?"

"Yeah, sorry about this, but I'm really hoping you didn't think I'd actually just tell you where the mage association is, right? I have a motorcycle as insurance for things like this, so I will take it and go alone. You , on the other hand, will be fast asleep. I trust you and all, but I still can't show you where it is. Sorry!" She said with a shrug and an almost imperceptible grin.

Castle groaned. _I got played. She's enjoying this, I know it._ "Great, what are you going to do to me now? Turn me into a frog? Leave me alone in this crime ridden neighborhood in _an expensive top of the line sports car?!"_

"Well, based on my preliminary analysis of your car, you're packing a small arsenal in here, and I haven't even hit the false bottom in the trunk yet. This car is loaded with guns." Yue closed her eyes, put her hand on the car door, and concentrated.

"Woah, are those grenades? Christ, who knew you were so paranoid? And what's with you and frogs?"

"Work with a homicide detective every day and it gets to you." Castle deadpanned.

"Frogs?"

"No, the paranoia. The frogs are a childhood trauma. Don't want to talk about it."

"In any case, you'll be just fine. I've slept in weirder places, so don't worry. You should wake up if someone with malicious intent comes by. _Foa_ _Zo Cratia Socratia, Aer et Aqua, Facti Nebula Illis Somnum Brevem! Nebula Hypnotica!"_ A small cloud erupted from Yue's wand, and soon Castle shut his eyes, slumped onto the steering wheel, and began to snore.

Yue got out of the car and climbed onto her motorcycle. She tapped her coat with her wand and it morphed into a leather biker jacket. She donned her leather jacket, turned on the motorcycle, and sped off.

* * *

**A/N: Please Review! Good or Bad!**


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